The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT June 9, 2012

When the Montana Grizzlies 2001 national championship football team gathers in mid-September to take its place in the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame, they'll celebrate a run like no other team has had in the confines of Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.

And remember accomplishments of a defensive lineman that was taken far too soon.

IN HIS his sophomore season at Montana, former Kellogg High standout Tim Bush helped the Grizzlies finish 15-1 and win the 2001 national championship with a 13-6 win over Furman. Bush still holds school career records with 48 1/2 tackles for loss and 32 1/2 sacks.

In one of the last meetings between the two schools, Bush, a defensive tackle, had 11 tackles and two sacks in a 33-27 double overtime win against Idaho in Missoula in 2001.

Montana and Idaho haven't played since 2003.

Bush died nearly two years ago in a mining accident on the morning of June 19, 2010, at the Galena Mine, located outside of Silverton.

The 2001 team will be inducted into the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame on Sept. 14 at the Holiday Inn Downtown at the Park in Missoula and will be honored during a halftime ceremony of the team's football game against Liberty the following day.

"Putting that entire team in was Tim to a 'T'," said Tim Kimberling, who was Kellogg's head football coach in 1998 - Bush's senior year - and is now a Kellogg assistant football coach. "He'd be thrilled to hear of this. He's always been a team player and did anything he could to help the program succeed."

"It's quite an honor," said Ken Bush, Tim's father. "Even if he was still here, that's quite an honor to put on that team. They played as a team and worked together. Joe Glenn was an awesome coach. It was an awesome staff. They really all worked as a team."

"I think it's awesome they're honoring the entire team that way," said Sharon Bush, Tim's mother. "We've got a lot of memories from that year."

After attending the championship game the previous year - a 27-25 loss to Georgia Southern, the Bush family didn't travel for the 2001 title game.

“That was one of the few we missed,” Sharon Bush said. “It was an unbelievable honor for Tim. To be with all those team members that worked so hard and to see all those smiles on their faces — it was good to know that the hard work paid off.”

When they did attend games, the Bush family often received tickets to sit in the parents section. Often times, Tim would get extras from other players that lived out of the area.

“You can’t help but get to know the players and their families,” Sharon said. “We always had at least two seats and others whose families lived too far away to come would give Tim their tickets. Sometimes we’d take them out for dinner and got to know them.”

“That was a pretty phenomenal group,” Kimberling said. “We went over and watched a number of those games that year. To go from an all-state and all-league player to a starter on that team was awesome. That was a great collection of guys and it will be really special that night.”

Many of those players from the 2001 team traveled to Kellogg to attend Bush’s memorial service.

“For all those people to take time out of their week to be with us — what an honor that was,” Ken said. “It definitely helped having those kinds of people there. It was pretty awesome for all those young men and women to come over and be here with us. John Edwards (the team’s quarterback and currently a lawyer in Billings, Mont.) flew in on a private jet and had to go right back out of here after the service.”

“It was very honoring and humbling,” Sharon said. “It wasn’t a surprise because we’d traveled a lot of the time and in the different hubs, there’d be a huge amount of fans from other parts of the country coming in. We knew there was a huge following and support for the team, but we were surprised to see that many Griz people and players that took time out of their busy days. It was really amazing.”

Following the service, Griz players presented the Bush family with a section of the 50-yard line from Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The team switched to SprinTurf in 2001 and replaced it in 2008.

“We haven’t done a lot with it yet,” Ken said. “We had it in the house for a while until my wife told me to take it outside. James (Tim’s younger brother) is going to hang it over a loft at his house so it will always be there.”

Dave Ducoite, who played free safety, presented the family with one of Tim’s game-worn jerseys, which they’ve since had framed.

Tim’s family hasn’t been to a game since the Grizzlies’ Homecoming game in 2010 — when the team honored Bush before the game.

That could all change when they honor the team in September.

“I think it’s something we’d like to do,” Sharon said. “Talking about him, even two years later is so emotional. We’re always torn between something that we want to do and if it’s too emotional — but I think we want to go.”

JOE GLENN, who coached the Grizzlies to that 2001 championship, remembered Bush as a player with something to prove.

“He was a guy that was unheralded coming out of high school,” Glenn said. “He hadn’t hit his final growth spurt yet, but one thing was obvious — Tim knew he could play there. He knew what kind of toughness he had and what he had to do — and Tim was driven to get it done. He was motivated to prove he could come from that level and show those Idaho schools, ‘Hey, you missed one.’”

Bush went from a walk-on as a freshman to a full scholarship by his senior year.

“Tim played with a tremendous amount of heart,” Glenn said. “His play was motivating and made those guys around him play at his level.”

“He was really driven,” Glenn said. “Off the field, he was just a wonderful person. He always had a ready smile and a guy you loved to see, because he’d bring you up. I don’t think he had an enemy and when you reflect back to losing him, it was a really big loss for mankind. He was real fun loving and a real treat.

Of the team, Glenn said they were exactly that — a team.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt when you’ve got a good team, the camaraderie rises,” Glenn said. “Those guys, they’ll prove that this fall. They’re going to be bonded for life. They worked hard, played hard and laid it on the line every time they took the field. Going to the weight room was never a problem for Tim and those guys, because they played until the echo of the whistle and the gun at the end of the game. They won a lot of games with impossible odds. From that touchdown pass to Jimmy Farris to beat Idaho on the last play of the game, to recovering a pitch on the final play against Sac State, they just found ways to win over and over again. It really shows a lot about the team.”

Glenn left Montana following the 2002 season to coach at Wyoming. He recently took a job as the head coach at South Dakota, which like Montana is in the Football Championship Subdivision.

As fate has it — South Dakota’s bye week will come the weekend of the induction ceremony.

“For me it was like fate,” Glenn said. “There was no way I could have been there on any other weekend. We’ll open the season there (Sept. 1 at Montana) and I’ll jump on a plane two weeks later. I feel very lucky that our open date fell on that weekend. I’m sure it will be a Kodak moment. It’s the first official reunion these guys will have and it will be a fun time.”

TACEY KEYLON, Tim’s older sister, remembers Tim’s first trip to Missoula.

“He didn’t know a soul at the time,” Keylon said. “We stuck around and watched practice. After it was over, some of the players asked if he had a truck and they all piled in and they were off. They were a close group all the way through and it really helped.”

Bush often got as many of the parents’ tickets from other players so his extended family could come watch as many home games as possible.

“It was an event,” Keylon said. “We all tried to make it. When we didn’t, they kept a special table for us at Steve’s Dugout (in Post Falls). It was a real special time. We’d dress all his nieces and nephews up in Griz gear.”

Keylon said the team’s support following Bush’s passing was extremely important.

“Everything just blind-sided us,” she said. “They were all over the place and had moved on. To have those guys come to Tim’s funeral and give us a piece of the turf — words can’t describe what it meant to us. They truly cared about each other and all stayed in touch. The Griz experience is like nothing you can explain. The fans are just crazy. It’s a really special group and really hard to go back there.”

MONTANA WAS 48-9 in the four seasons Bush played, including two unbeaten seasons in the Big Sky Conference and only three conference losses total. He was named a second-team I-AA All-American his senior year and was later named to the Griz’s all-decade team.

Kimberling likely won’t be able to make it to the banquet on Friday night, as Kellogg has a football game that night, but he hopes to make it to Missoula for the game the following day.

Bush’s No. 30 jersey at Kellogg has been retired and hangs at the entrance to Andrews Gymnasium. Only his cousin, Chuck, has worn the number since.

“I think he became such an inspiration,” Keylon said. “So many have rallied around him. All of his nieces and nephews play sports now. From my daughter to the littlest one, whenever they score — it’s because of Tim. It’s so cool to see these kids now that are just enamored with him. They’re doing this to make their uncle Tim proud and he’s living on through them.”

“It’s a huge honor for the team and coach (Joe) Glenn,” Sharon said. “He is really the Cadillac of coaching. I can’t think of anyone that’s a classier coach. He’s very much a gentleman and was always so supportive of the players. Many of them looked up to him like a father and he was very well loved by the team members. Him and the coaching staff really did an outstanding job of putting that team together.”

For one weekend in September — they’ll come together again to celebrate their successes, as well as celebrate the one that can’t be there in person.

But whose spirit will never go away.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].